Supporters marched from Preston train station to the prison, chanting ‘Free the three’
Photograph: Eleanor Barlow/PA

Hundreds of supporters of the three environmental activists who became the first people to be jailed for an anti-fracking protest have demonstrated outside the prison where they are being held after an appeal against their imprisonment was lodged.

Protesters marched across Preston chanting “Free the three”, “Protest is not a crime”, and “We said no”, in reference to the local council’s decision to ban fracking in the county that was later overturned by Sajid Javid.

Simon Blevins, Richard Roberts and Rich Loizou were jailed for more than a year each at Preston crown court last week after being convicted of public nuisance following a protest outside energy firm Cuadrilla’s site in Lancashire in July 2017.

Organisers said that about 500 people came from across the country to demonstrate against their “inappropriate imprisonment”. “It is an outrage and a scandal that three men are currently sat behind bars for the supposed crime of public nuisance for sitting quietly on top of a lorry,” said Leigh Coghill, an activist from the campaigning group Frack Free Lancashire.

“This is an emergency: fracking is imminent, our opposition has been broad and unrelenting, and individuals such as the frack-free four decided to take civil disobedience because democracy has been exhausted. Their imprisonment is inappropriate, not in the public interest, and an appeal is ongoing.”

Among the supporters were Loizou’s parents Sharron and Platon. Mr Loizou said: “We’re normal working people. I’m retired now, we just want to get on with our lives.”

He said things had been difficult since his son had been sentenced, and added: “We’re very sad for what’s happened. We never believed it would come to a prison sentence. We were shocked.”

Mrs Loizou said she had spoken to her son that morning. She said: “He sounded in good spirits. I think the support he has is helping. Rich would never hurt anybody. He just cares about the planet – he always has.”

Solicitors for the men announced on Friday that they would appeal against the sentences, saying it was wrong to lock up peaceful protesters, while anger over their “excessive and extraordinary” punishments has been intensifying.

Meanwhile, a last-minute application for an interim injunction threatened to thwart Cuadrilla’s landmark fracking drive once again after it had been expected to resume within days. A full injunction hearing is set for 10 October, when it will be decided whether the injunction is upheld or if Cuadrilla can proceed.

At a Green party conference on Saturday, the deputy leader, Amelia Womack, said those on “the frontline of environmental destruction are freedom fighters, not criminals” and called for the men to be freed and for fracking to be banned. The party’s co-leaders also called for continued direct action to stop the “ecocide” of fossil fuel exploration.

Blevins and Roberts were sentenced to 16 months in prison, while Loizou was jailed for 15 months. A fourth defendant, Julian Brock, was sentenced to 12 months in custody, suspended for 18 months, after he pleaded guilty to public nuisance.

Fracking has been hailed as a way for the UK to reduce its energy dependency on foreign imports, but campaigners and experts say the process – which involves fracturing shale rocks deep in the ground – is damaging to the environment.

Drilling at a site in Weeton, Lancashire, was abandoned in 2011 after it was linked with two earth tremors. In the US, residents near fracking sites have suffered nausea, headaches and nosebleeds, and have complained about constant drilling and chemical smells, while property prices have fallen.